Stuttgart Cathedral

Liudolf erected a small church around 950 and remnants of the old collegiate church (stiftskirche) were discovered under the nave of the current Cathedral. The fortunes of the Cathedral has largely been determined by the religion of the House of Württemberg, who ruled the area which comprises the present-day state Baden-Württemberg, of which Stuttgart is the capital. Catholicism was banned when the family converted to Protestantism.

In its early years, the church was administered by the friars of Altenburg Abbey. During the Reformation, Stuttgart became mainly Protestant and Catholic mass was banned from the city from 1535 until the Peace of Augsburg was signed in 1555. Stuttgart became Catholic again after the Holy Roman Empire and its allies triumphed over the Protestant forces in the Battle of Nördlingen. The church came under the administration of the Jesuits, who notably desecrated the grave of theologian and Reformer Johannes Brenz. Catholic mass was once again banned with the signing of the Treaty of Westphalia. The Stiftskirche became a Protestant church and many restrictions were placed on the Catholic population. These restrictions began to be relaxed as the now Kingdom of Württemberg became secularised (see German mediatization), although Protestantism remained the dominant and de facto state religion. The government allowed for a designated priest to minister to the Catholic population; one such priest was Johann Baptist von Keller.[2]

The church as it was around 1890

In 1808, the foundation stone for the new Catholic church was laid with little fanfare. It was completed in 1811 and consecrated by Bishop Franz Karl Joseph Fürst von Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst, the General Vicar of Wurttemberg, later Bishop of Augsburg. Eberhard was chosen to be the patron saint. Initially, Eberhard of Salzburg was chosen but later Eberhard of Nellenburg (de), founder of Kloster Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen, was the preferred choice. During Nazi rule, theologian Helmut Thielicke was based at Stuttgart and gave lectures and sermons at the cathedral. The rectory and most of the church, along with many important buildings in the city, were destroyed during the bombing of Stuttgart in World War II in 1944.[2] In his book Man of God, Thielicke described the scene: "I can still see the towering torch of this venerable house of God. [...] ...and I stood there holding in my hand a key to a door that no longer existed..."[3]

From 1948 to 1955, parishioners worshiped at a repaired section of the Kunstgebäude Stuttgart (English: Arts Building) (de) on the Schlossplatz while the church was being rebuilt. It was reopened in 1955, having been rebuilt in a simplified, modernist style. In 1978 it was elevated from parish church (German: Stadtpfarrkirche) to co-cathedral status. The Diocese of Rottenburg was subsequently renamed Rottenburg-Stuttgart to reflect the change in status.[2]

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